Chapter 5

Daniel

Someone cries out from the side of the bar and the fear I’m feeling only gets stronger. I take off in the direction but stop short when I see the scene in front of me. My eyes cant seem to focus on one thing as I try to understand what I”m seeing.

There are three bodies strewn out and Aria is in the middle with a guy lying on her lap.

“Finally! Took you long enough.” She says and my eyes snap to hers.

I snap out my stopper and rush toward her not bothering to be careful when I recognize the men on the floor. It’s the three assholes we kicked out of the bar. The idiots made a huge mistake going after my girl.

“Shit, Princess what happened?” I ask kneeling down next to her.

She lets out a weak laugh. “These assholes thought they could hurt this poor guy behind the bar. Like hell, I was going to let that happen.”

I look down at the guy she’s holding onto. He doesn’t look familiar.

“Who is he?” I ask.

She sighs. “I don’t know. But he’s an Omega Daniel.”

My head snaps in her direction. “What? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know.” She brushes a strand of the guy’s hair away from his forehead. “I’ve never heard of one not having a pack. It’s too dangerous.”

What I don’t tell her is it’s just as dangerous for her. She knows it is.

We need to get someone out here to get these guys handled.

“We can’t exactly call the police.” She says and I nod in agreement.

This is club business. As much as it would help to have these guys locked up, their president will have them out within an hour. Then they’ll be coming for Aria. We need to control this, club-to-club

“But he needs help. He passed out and I don’t know how badly he’s hurt.” The worry on her face is not a look I've seen on her before.

“I’m on it.” I pull out my phone and hit Buck’s number.

It rings two times before he picks up. “What?” He snaps

“Prez. We have a situation outside. You better get out here quick and bring some of the others.” I hang up before he can ask any more questions.

“Buck’s on his way.” She nods and gives me a grateful smile.

A shuffle of several large booted men come running and soon there are curses ringing out from behind us. I stand and turn to face some of the guys. They’re all just as confused as I was when I first saw what Aria did.

“Get the hell out of my way!” Buck backs and the others immediately create space for him.

He looks around and curses but his attention quickly moves to the girl behind me. “Aria!”

“I’m fine Pop,” Aria says but Buck crouches down and starts examining her face.

“Like fuck you’re fine. You’re bleeding and-“

“Pop. I promise I’m fine. It’s those guys you should be worried about. I may have gotten a little too rough with them.” Aria smiles proudly and Buck lets out a deep laugh.

“That’s my girl.” He stands and faces the rest of us.

“Get them up and tied out back. We’ll deal with them later.”

The guys step forward and start grabbing up the Ragging Machine guys.

“Now, let’s get you inside and checked out. We’ll call doc.” Buck says but then his attention finally focuses on the guy Aria is holding. “Well, I’ll be damned. An omega?”

Aria nods. “They had him cornered. I stepped in before they could-“ She cuts off but she doesn’t have to say what those guys would have done to the Omega if she hadn’t stepped in.

“Let’s get him up and we’ll take him upstairs.” Buck bends down and carefully moves the Omega off Aria’s lap.

“Be careful! I’m not sure how bad he’s hurt.” Her worried look and panicked voice has Buck looking at her for an extra second but he nods and walks away.

I’m left alone with Aria, and let out a breath of relief. Before I can stop myself I turn and close the distance between us, cupping her face with my hands and slam my lips against hers. It’s a little harsh but damn I was scared. She doesn’t push me away and instead wraps her arms around my waist to pull me closer to her. It's only when I hear her let out a small sound of pain that I pull back.

“Sorry,” I say but she laughs.

“No, you aren’t.”

I chuckle and brush a strand of her hair away for her hair. It’s a mess and there is blood coming from her hair line but she’s never looked more beautiful to me than at this moment. She fought and survived against three Alphas. A few years ago she had been a scared girl who flinched if anyone moved too fast around her. Now she took three bikers down on her own. I owe Xander a hell of a thank-you gift for teaching her how to protect herself.

“No, I’m not. I’ve been wanting to do that for years.” I admit.

She smiles up at me. “Took me getting the crap beat out of me to kick you in the ass, huh?”

I cringe. “Sorry princess. Let’s get you inside.” I wrap an arm around her shoulder and pull her closer and warmth floods me when she cuddles closer to me.

We head back into the barn and the room erupts in applause. Aria laughs and covers her face. The guys praise her the whole time we pass them and only stop when we reach the staircase that leads to the upstairs apartment. Aria laughs softly to herself and I smile. Our princess kicked ass, and all of us couldn’t be prouder of her.

I let her go so that she could walk ahead of me up the stairs. I’m not proud of this but my eyes move to her ass without my control. There’s a clearing of a throat and I look up to see her looking over her shoulder at me with a raised brow. I give her a shit-eating grin and she shakes her head but she doesn’t say a word about it. As far as I'm concerned…I kissed her so she’s my girl. I know she’s going to fight me on it, but I’ll be damned if I don’t get my girl now.

When we step through the door to the apartment Aria’s whole body seems to tense. She sucks in a deep breath and a sound like I’ve never heard from her before starts. It sounds like a low rumbling sound, and it makes my whole body go on alert. Buck has used his Alpha side on us more than a few times, but as Betas we don’t react quite as strongly as another Alpha or an Omega would. It works to get us in line though. Hearing the sound from Aria just now affected me far more than Buck ever did.

I push that aside for now and follow Aria into the apartment. She moves quickly over to the couch in the center of the room where I see the Omega lying down still unconscious.

“The doc is on his way, but he said make sure his head and feet are elevated,” Buck says to Aria as she kneels down next to the couch.

“Why hasn’t he woken up yet? That’s bad isn't it?” She looks at Buck and he gives her a shrug.

“Doc says it could be a concussion or just from the trauma of the night. He’ll check him out more when-“

Before Buck finished talking the Omega jolts awake.